Report Claims Expansion of Renewable Energy Could Save $7 Billion Per Year

May 25--By Steve Raabe, The Denver Post Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Consumers in Western states could save up to $7 billion a year in energy costs through use of more renewable energy and conservation, a Boulder research group concludes in a new report.

A two-year study by Western Resource Advocates compared the economic and environmental costs of generating power largely from fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas against a "balanced" approach in which wind power and other renewable sources play a much larger role.

Unlike other studies from advocates of renewable energy, this one employed a sophisticated computer modeling system used by electric utilities to prove the effectiveness of renewables and energy efficiency, said John Nielsen, one of the report's authors.

"It's not a pie-in-the-sky approach," he said. "We saw economic and environmental risks with the 'business as usual' path. We found that you can integrate significant amounts of renewable energy into the system and still have a system that is reliable."

Critics of renewable energy expansion say power from the wind and sun is intermittent and unreliable, making it unsuitable as a major source of electrical generation.

"We have no problem with regard to balance, but when you get aggressive with (renewables), it starts becoming a problem," said Stan Lewandowski, general manager of Sedalia-based Intermountain Rural Electric Association. "When you go beyond a certain point you start monkeying around with reliability."

The report concluded that using renewables for 21 percent of power generation -- compared to its current 1 percent share -- would lower generation costs by $2 billion a year by 2020 in a seven-state Western region.

Utility customers would save an additional $5.3 billion a year if natural gas prices continue to rise and if power companies are taxed for their emissions of carbon dioxide and other pollutants, according to the study.

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